In recent years many alternative means of providing power for vehicles have been developed. One of the most popular and promising power means is electricity. Several auto makers have begun to offer electricity-powered vehicles, such as Ford and General Motors with their EV-1 electric cars and Toyota with their hybrid gas and electric Privus vehicle.
One of the reasons that it is difficult to design electric vehicles, such as automobiles, is the inability to provide long-lasting, sufficient power without having to utilize an extremely large number of heavy batteries. It was the obvious weight requirements of a passenger automobile that led designers to consider the possibility of electrically-powered two-wheeled cycles, such as motorcycles and bicycles which have a substantially lower weight and lower power requirements.
One of the major drawbacks to designing and building electrically-powered two-wheeled cycles was that manufacturers were currently selling a large quantity of gasoline-powered cycles and cycles using electrically assisted hybrid power systems. There was not a great deal of incentive to invest substantial amounts of money into research, development and subsequent building of a product that was already selling well as currently designed. However, even with a lack of incentives, the current multi-terrain electric motor driven cycle disclosed herein was designed and manufactured. The inventive cycle offers an alterative design to currently available gasoline or hybrid powered cycles.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,474,148 Takata 12 December 1995 5,226,501 Takata 13 July 1993 3,921,745 McCulloch, et al 25 November 1975 ______________________________________
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,148 discloses a bicycle having an electric motor assist. The assist ratio provided by the electric motor is varied in response to a variety of bicycle conditions, such as speed, to reduce the consumption of electrical energy and to avoid over speed conditions. Various control ratio options are available and the operator may select the assist ratio.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,501 discloses an electric power bicycle wherein an electrical motor is employed for assisting in the pedaling of the bicycle. An arrangement is included for changing the state of the electrical power when the bicycle is pushed. The circuit for the electric motor is opened when the bicycle is pushed rearwardly so as to avoid undue resistance to the pushing. In other embodiments, the electric motor is energized upon pushing so as to assist in pushing the bicycle.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,745 discloses an electric bicycle employing a chain, V-belt or friction pulley drives and a motor controller circuit variable in both frequency and duty cycle. Regenerative braking and the conversion of the motor to a transformer for charging the bicycle battery is disclosed. The pressure of the armature brushes of the motor is variable under light load conditions to increase motor efficiency.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention is related reference may be made to the remaining cited patents.
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,491,390 McGreen 13 February 1996 5,375,676 Takata et al 27 December 1994 5,370,200 Takata 6 December 1994 4,871,042 Hsu et al 3 October 1989 3,961,678 Hirano et al 8 June 1976 ______________________________________